Beginning Feb. 1st each year, a seasonal wildlife closure will be in effect on Redgarden Wall in Eldorado Canyon State Park to protect nesting and roosting sites of the canyon’s falcons. The closure is in effect through July 31st unless lifted early due to early fledging or inactivity.

Description

A fun route with some damn longs leads. We're not 100 percent sure we did the route correct, so take this discussion with a grain of salt.

P1: Start in a nice crack system near the left edge of the alcove containing Darkness 'Til Dawn - about 20 left of that route. Ascend easy climbing up crack systems, aiming for the roof about 80 feet off the ground. There's a pin just underneath the left corner of the roof; clip and power over (5.8). Continue up, angling slightly right and then back left. Hit the rotten band and move up and a bit left and belay just left of a small tree growing out of the band. You will be even with the anchors of Darkness 'til Dawn 140', 5.8+.

P2: Go straight up easy crack systems on the face. Avoid getting pulled left to the big trees. Right up the face to a nice big ledge. Belay at the low point of the ledge, right in the middle fo the face and below the obvious crack you will be climbing next. 90', 5.5.

P3: Here's where it gets interesting. On the middle part of the ramp, a steep crack system gets gradually more difficult (5.7 then 5.8+ then 5.9). You will notice a fixed pix 10' to the left after about 50', which is not on this route. Continue straight up as it gets more strenuous (there's a small brass stopper that is now probably fixed pro thanks to my first 15-foot whipper at this point). The crack eventually turns to small fingers. At this point, going straight up is 10d R. Going left is 5.9+R, though only for a short section. Going right is 5.9PG, where you aim for the large ramp system about 10 feet away. In any case, all options converge on the ramp which you follow for about 40 more feet of easy climbing. Belay at a decent stance in the right-facing dihedral in the middle of the face. 5.9, 140'.

P4: Follow the dihedral up and out to a dead tree. Then, we continued up and slightly left, finishing in a V-dihedral. However, we believe the correct route actual is to move up and angle right (5.6) past a tree, to finish.

Descent: Follow the trail running on the east side of the ridge north for about 150 yards. Look for several cairns, and follow them up to a notch and then down class 3 scrambling to the west and north. Rejoin the main Redgarden trail, grab your bags, and go get a beer.

Congrats on the whipper! I found that as i neared the top of the crack it dissipated a bit through a small bulge.here i stepped about five feet right (5.9) into a ramp-like right facing corner which lead right up to the belay. From there i went to the dead tree, and then straight up the face to the top (in two short pitches).

Thanks for the now fixed piece. We enjoyed clipping it today. At the point where the fixed pin is supposed to be, didnt find that ? I guess we got to the dissipating crack and then went left and up, just right of the arete to belay at the dead tree, a long pitch at approx. 180' feet from where we started, the description is not one of Rossiter's best. If doing it again, just trust the gear, now well below your feet and continue up to easier ground from the fixed piece. A decent route altogether though, perhaps not 3 star, because of 2nd and last pitch, also the rappels down, what a mess on those trees ? Is it too much to ask for bolted stations, we could do without the 500 slings on EVERY ONE of the trees.

We tried to find the Fixed pin. It doesn't exist. The pitch got thinner and thinner and thinner until we hit Myke's stopper. Then of course it evaporated. The 60 degree ramp to the right of the obvious hand crack affords some decent pro.

We set an anchor 10 ft above & to the right of the fixed nut. Plenty of space in that crack for a #3 Camalot, big blue tricam, and a #1 Camalot.

Sweet pitch otherwise though. Nice combination of face moves and crack climbing. Good pro with nuts in the crack. Take lots of small Aliens otherwise for the upper crack, but stoppers seemed to fit better.

Clipped the fixed stopper, but didn't ever find a pin either.What a superb pitch though-nice climbing, pro when you need it and just really enjoyable. We did the top half of green slab after grandmothers (bottom wasn't in the sun yet) and really enjoyed the combo. The walkoff is really straight forward, well traveled and fast-I wouldn't bother to rap.

I think that P3 in the book is somewhere to the left of where everyone ends up. I found myself at "Myke's Stopper" confused as hell and wondering where the hell to go. I ended up doing a funky traverse left (it felt harder than .9) and then back right again when I found some chalk higher up. Anyway, next time I'll experiment to the left.

After I got to the fixed piece (Myke's Stopper-not a pin) on the 3rd pitch, I went right to a small undercling and over to the ramp (NTB), about one or two .9ish moves up and right. Certainly one of the best .9 pitches in Eldo. Steep, long (~185 feet to the tree, 30 feet from the top), and mostly crack! Good winter climb if the sun's out.

Pitch 3 and 4 as described above can be combined into a spectacular 200' pitch to the top. I think a petition to the Eldo Committy to change the name of this route to "Myke's Stopper Slab" is in order, I'll sign

We didn't see the stopper (although I'm pretty sure Joseffa, who led this one, placed a stopper in the same small crack). From there we did the tricky traverse to the right and then up the left-angling ramp.

I got a number 2 Camalot stuck just after the first belay last weekend (6.27). I thought I was a bit off route, but I guess I wasn't. Last night, I rapped down to work it loose, and it was gone. If anybody picked it up, I wouldn't mind getting it back - thanks. karlwnichols@yahoo.com

The traverse right on the third pitch was a delight... a few crimpers and good smears to a sharp edge out right and fairly well-protected by a good stopper placement in the crack, the crux for me being a position challenge about 20 ft. earlier. Great pitch!

We did the whole route in two pitches with a 60m rope and about 30' of easy (5.6-5.7) simul-climbing on each pitch. I highly recommend doing it this way as each leader gets a good pitch and you don't get stuck at any hanging belays, only big ledges. Definitely a good route, but it does have its share of choss.

Climbed this route today and enjoyed it. I combined the last two pitches with about five feet of rope to spare. The 'discontinuous crack system' is not too bad to figure out, the pro is there and the climbing is fun.

My beta for the last two pitches: From the big ledge, follow the crack system to the end of the cracks. Traverse right and get onto the ramp. Follow the ramp and climb to the tree with rotten webbing and belay there. Climb to the top. The hardest move felt 5.9 with good pro. The Dark Horse awaits you my good friends...

The route is one darn fine route, albeit with a flaw or two. But then again, find me a flawless 460 foot climb anywhere... The route goes in 2 pitches with a 70 Meter rope, the bottom to the large ledge as 70M (nothing to spare) and then on to the top in about 67 meters. The 'crux' where you are forced left (9+) or right (9) also goes head-on at 5.10 S. There is a dubious hold involved in this straight-on [variation], so place good gear and check your head before casting off.

I climbed this last weekend after finding two groups of slow climbers massed at the first belay of the Yellow Spur, and more groups at Rewritten and Zot. So, using the trusty guidebook, I see this climb...never having given it a thought before this time. I was skeptical looking up at it, but things turned out much better than the glance from the ground inferred.

Like most before me, I did get a bit lost on the 3rd pitch where the crack tapers off. I did think about going straight up, actually made a few moves and became a bit concerned I was going off route, so I downclimbed and headed left towards a fixed Metolius, up about 15', and then did a no hands traverse right. My guess is that this not the correct way but it was interesting.

I did this route on 8/20. Not as good as I was expecting. I did the route in 2 pitches like Tony suggested, and that was great because it packs a lot of climbing into those 2 pitches. I can see if done as 3 it would diminish the climb.

With that said, holy loose rock! The first pictch had a lot of hollow sounds loose rock and flakes. The second pitch was better but only the crux section. I did not see a pin but climbed up the great 8 crack into the 9 finger crack, and then when it abruptly ended I moved slightly right into the ramp. If this crack was longer, it would be a 5 star classic - as it is you feel cheated of something great.

The ramp was more of the same from the first pitch - loose, easy, climbing on hollow flakes.

As done in 4 pitches, I found parts of pitch 2 and the entire length of pitch 4 to be horrible! I enjoy 'adventure' routes (read as: not too often done, with some dubious rock, lichen, no chalk and requiring some route-finding skills), but this route had way too many hollow and loose looking blocks, most of them perched above your belayer's head. The fourth pitch was a jumble of death blocks waiting to fall! Unfortunately, I really liked the 3rd pitch. Fun, finger crack climbing and in your face for the direct finish. However, I don't think that could offset the feeling of dread I had for a large section of the climb, in case one of the, at least, 50 large blocks I had to pull on were to come off.

I thought this route was well worth doing. The first pitch is quite good and the finger-crack pitch is superb. FWIW, I found it most natural to follow the crack to its terminus (small brass) and traverse slightly left using a series of small underclings and small but positive sidepulls, this deposits you on the face via some balancy and tangy climbing - at this point the "fixed Metolius" was well below my feet and left; the climbing holds your attention until you are in the R-facing corner.

Loved the route myself, but as mentioned in the route description some questions about what I actually climbed came up. On P3 I left the belay, climbed up the crack on the right all the way to its terminus (noticing the pin/bolt out left lower down), and that's where the uncertainty came in. At the top of the crack where it gets rather thin (green Alien), I was unsure where to go. I ended up moving up a bit more, finding funky combo of undercling on the left and hold high and right, then making a delicate foot move to the left. I saw the fixed Metolius cam, but did not move all the way over to it. Instead moved up, placed the thinnest RP on my rack, up a bit more, and then slightly right until reaching the left-leaning ramp/dihedral and feeling secure for the first time in 10+ feet. From the other comments, it sounds like I might not be the first person to do this variation. Another question, where do you get into the Rossiter 9+ variation as indicated in the topo? When I looked at it while climbing seemed sketchy to get left into the bottom.

Good climb, especially if you're into homicide -- there are some real murderous hollow flakes on this one. It seemed OK as long as you are careful and check every hold, especially on the last pitch.

I traversed right (just before the crack ended on the third pitch) at an undercling and moved over to the right facing dihedral / ramp. This move was easier than some of the other moves along the crack.

The route seemed easier than most Eldo .9s I've done, but I would still call it a .9. Maybe next time I should try the .9+ left option that seems so popular.

The funny thing about the descent for this and other routes like Rewritten is that it can drop just as much if not MORE rock careening down the talus slope. Who hasn't caused some kind of a rock to dislodge while hiking down? Who hasn't seen one cartwheeling way into the air to possibly bean someone on the trail below you?

I first did a precursor to this route on the Green Slab with Bob Culp in either November 1960, or January 1961. It had snowed in Eldorado the night before and we climbed in mountaineering boots. We basically took the easiest possible line that simply went "up." We stayed fairly far left on the slab proper, sometimes out to the arete forming the left edge of the slab. We were continually being cascaded with bits of falling ice and some sloppy snow, which made it into an "epic climb." Bob noticed some of the neat features of the wall that were holding some snow on small ledges, and came back again with my roomate Henry a few weeks later to establish the "Direct." Done by the easiest possible line, we thought it was probably 5.6 at that time. The descent was nightmarish coming down icy gullys and slabs. My assessment today, is we were doing solid 5.8 climbing on wet and slush covered holds in boots. I have subsequently done the route 5 more times by several variations, including the now-standard Rossiter described route, and it felt trivial by comparison to our icy epic!